Bravo, Isaac! Phil Jeffrey threw me off ebirds for my heretical piece earlier today. I'm happy to hear another birder criticize behavior that really needs to be addressed. Not to be misunderstood, if hobbyists want to spend insane sums of money, absolutely. I endorse capitalism, these sales are great for our economy. But I agree with you, Isaac, let's not be high and mighty and condemn others in the pursuit of their hobbies. It's extremely hypocritical to bemoan the waste of gasoline used by the 4X4s, or snow mobile enthusiasts, or ATV's. I still would like to see some numbers on how much gasoline and aircraft fuel is burned up by birding enthusiasts. Again, this is a personal choice, and people are free to make it. But it's like what Edward Abbey said, that there is a certain group who are loving nature to death. The crowds of birders and photographers that descend on rarities made me just stop going altogether. It ruins the experience of being outdoors, for me at least.
I have seen so much bad, and yes, crazy, behavior in the field that I made some personal decisions concerning my birding habits. And they are my decisions. Others can make up their own minds. I remember one Fall many years ago at Cape May. There must have been more than twenty birders crammed onto a platform that really only had room for about five. We were were watching a Common Snipe at fairly close range. The bird was clearly terrified. It was backing up against the reeds, but they were too dense for it to get through. It couldn't fly forward because it was ringed by birders, who by the way, were loud and shoving at one another. A short, very rude woman demanded to use my scope, to 'get her good look' at this terrified animal. I wasn't able to shorten my scope for her because of the crowd, so she spent the next five minutes abusing me about not being considerate of short people. A total stranger mind you, complaining about my choice, of my personal equipment. I shouldered my scope and pushed through the crowd and left in disgust. Unfortunately, scenes like this were not uncommon throughout my fifteen years of birding. So, last thoughts before I make it two for two and Chris knocks me off this list also. People, do a reality check. Birding and bird photography are not our vocations. We are not, mostly, naturalists or scientists. I'm always amused how quickly people I've known go from buying their first digital camera to billing themselves as 'wildlife photographers' on their homemade websites. I really believe the internet has made it too easy for a lot of us to immerse ourselves in this 'outdoor' fantasy world we create. When we observe birds it's exactly the uncertainty principle. Our mere looking at a bird alters its behavior. These creatures are far more aware of us than we are of them. We kid ourselves into thinking we see them acting naturally. Thanks for posting, Isaac. It was a very good read! And please people, stop obsessing about the owls. It's weird already. This is New York City, if it gets to be to much for them they can always leave. To paraphrase George Thouroughgood, "I bird alone!" Michael Zablocky On Feb 6, 2012, at 7:31 PM, Isaac Grant wrote: > Here is my two cents based off of over 30 years of birding in this state. I > find this entire discussion absurd and think that everyone has pretty much > missed the real point. I have no clue why people get so up in arms about > flushing owls. Let me preface this by saying that some of the people that I > am about to criticize are people that I bird with frequently, people that I > have known for over 20 years, people that have been to my home and my > wedding. I find it all extremely contradictory and hypocritical . > > The same people that are finger pointing and bad mouthing and video taping > and planning secret groups because a few people get too close to a bird, have > no problem walking through the east pond and fulshing hundreds if not > thousands of migratory shorebirds that are desparately trying to refuel for > their huge migration south. Is is possible to walk the east pond without > flushing loads of birds? Does any one care if they flush a flock of peeps, > dowitchers or yellow legs or even give at a second thought while they are > searching for a Godwit or Stint? They have no probelm walking through a field > in the fall and flushing hordes of birds in the hopes that a Clay Colored or > Lark Sparrow be found amongst the hordes of Savannah Sparrows and Song > Sparrows and more common species. Can anyone see a sparrow in NY without > flushing it first? These same people have no problem pshing in any number of > song birds during migration. Doesn't that disturb these birds more than an > occasional flush by a photographer or flash? The examples are endless. What > birder has not flushed flock after flock of Dunlin and Sanderling while > walking on the beach at Breezy and Jones Beach looking for one of those Snowy > Owls? What birder has not crashed through median strip at Jones Beach > looking for Crossbills or Sawwhets and not flushed Yellowrumps and Juncos, > etc. What birder has not walked the trail out to Breezy and not flushed > numerous Yellowrupms and Cardinals and blackbirds. What birder has not walked > near a pond and not had every duck swim to the other side of it? What birder > has not flushed loads of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls on the beach while > trying to find a Glaucous or Iceland Gull? What birder has not walked through > central park and not flushed a Hermit thrush or Ovenbird? I have never gone > to Point Lookout and seen the Harlequin Ducks without them continuously > swimming away from me. Maybe they just don't like me but I think that they > are obviously wary of people and do their best to keep their distance. > > The obvious answer to all of my questions is that it is impossible to be a > birder and to not continuously disturb birds. Do any of us really think that > everytime we walk on a beach or thrugh the woods or in a field that we are > not disturbing the birds that are trying to see? I am not in any way > condoning someone who is purposely flushing an owl or approaching > unnecessarily close. But we need to keep in perspective what it is that all > of us (certainly including myself) are doing every time we enter the field? > I do not think that you can randolmly decide what birds are OK to disturb and > which ones are not. That seems to be an absurd thing to do. All of us, > photgraphers and birders alike need to be aware of our impact on our > surroundings and stop pointing the fingers at others. > > And now for what may get me lynched. I think that birders cause > significantly more disturbance than photographers do. Do we all really think > that when 30 people are lined up (even at a reasonable distance) from a Snowy > Owl that you are not "on its mind", that it is not extremely aware of your > presence? Do you think that it feels comfortable hunting while a crowd is > present? I don't. At least most photographers will make a reasonable effort > to slowly approach these birds so that they can actually not make it fly. > That is how you get a good picture isn't it? These birds are comming to > public places and are surrounded by dogs and loads of people. When they are > bothered enough, they will fly. Is that really a huge deal if a Snowy Owl > flies a few hundred yards down the beach? I really do not think so and I > have no clue why so many people think that. These birds did just fly > hundereds of miles south didn't they? I would argue that the continued > presence of a crowd of birders in a field or a swamp or the beach has a much > greater negative impact on the birds than people may think. I have seen at > least 20 Snowy Owls and I have never seen one actively hunting. Why is that? > Probably because I was there and wether or not I approached it too closely > still did not mean that I was not disturbing the bird. These birds are > choosing to or have been forced to winter in what is unfortunately a public > area. The Breezy owls will have to deal with dogs, people and loads of 4x4's > on the beach. They will do their best to stay away from the people and when > they feel distrubed they will fly. That is about the best they can do. My > experience has been that if you are birding anywhere (and I have lots of > experience having birdered in every continent other than Antarctica) and you > are still and quiet then you will see more birds. The birds seem to not be > disturbed as much and will approach extremely close without being alarmed or > flushing. Ever see a bird and it flies as soon as you pick up your > binoucluars to look at it? You disturbed it by your movements. Most > photoagraphers will lie or stand still and quitely most of the time. In my > opinion that disturbs the birds less than a group of birders talking and > snapping pictures. > > So what does that mean for birders vs. photographers. Well it means nothing. > Everyone always thinks that someone else is doing more harm than they are. > I think you look quickly and then leave and that is what will cause the least > disturbance to these birds. I think that 30 people that are at a reasonable > distance does a lot more harm than everyone is talking about. My vote is > that birders are doing more harm than the photograhers. And we all need to > look in the mirror a little bit more before we point the finger toward > others. > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
